Montek Ahluwalia is an Indian economist who was the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Republic of India from 2004 to 14. He was previously the first Director of the Independent Evaluation Office at the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2004.
Montek Ahluwalia has been a key figure in the Indian economic reforms process on a continuous basis from the mid 1980s. He served as Special Secretary to Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and VP Singh; as Secretary Commerce 1990-1991; as Secretary, Economic Affairs and Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance 1991-1998 and as Member Planning Commission and member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister 1998-2001.
Prior to 1980 he was a member of the Staff of the World Bank and was the Chief of the Income Distribution Division before leaving the bank to join the Government of India in 1979 .
He is currently a Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Social and Economic Policy (CESP) in New Delhi and a member of the Board of the Council for Energy Environment and Water (CEEW) in New Delhi.
He studied at Delhi University where he received a BA (Honours) in Economics and at Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar and received an MA and an M Phil in Economics. He is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford.
He has published several articles on various aspects of development, including India’s economic reforms, in academic journals and in edited collections. He was a co author, along with Hollis Chenery and others, of “Redistribution with Growth” published by Oxford University Press in 1974. His book “Backstage: The Story of India’s High Growth Years” was published by Rupa Publications in 2019
In 2011 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award, by the President of India.